Discussion

As you may have noticed, the responses to this situation tend to agree well with what we saw in the "Police" word association a few weeks ago: French students trust the authorities far more than American students do, and so French students are more willing to comply immediately with a police officer's command than American students, who are more likely to question the officer's motives.

An interesting question was raised in the previous discussion that I would like to repeat here: do you believe that our distrust in the police is fueled by the media's popular portrayal of police officers as corrupt, often incompetent people who are liable to commit immoral acts? (Or perhaps it is the other way around?) Are there TV series or movies in France featuring or portraying morally corrupt police officers?

I see why the French would be quick to comply with an officer's demands, but I was wondering why not too many French students would ask to see the officer's badge to make sure he or she was legit in the first place? Although it is unusual, I've seen instances where people impersonate a police officer to do malicious activity.

As another branch off of Pedro's questions, I am curious whether this trust of authority extends to other situations. Would you generally trust someone in an authoritative position just because they are in that position? If so, would it be because they are placed there for a reason, because they are supposed to have your best interest in mind, or some other reason? For example, are teachers, parents, police officers, and employers trusted authorities because of their positions?